This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

As lesbians nearing middle age, the Indigo Girls might seem unlikely pop stars. But to their enthusiastic fans at Kingsbury Hall on Friday night, the guitar-playing singers proved why they've continued to sell out concerts year after year.

They also provided a dose of activist energy, rallying the crowd against the storage of nuclear waste on the Goshute Indian reservation in Utah's west desert and a proposed state constitutional amendment opposing gay marriage.

Volunteers passed out cards for audience members to sign asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission not to permit the nuclear waste dump. Then the singers moved up the aisles with baskets to collect them, promising to send them to the commission.

Guest Winona La Duke, Ralph Nader's Green Party running mate in the 2000 election, spoke about the importance of honoring the land - the theme of the Indigo Girls' current concert tour (the concert also kicked off Pride Week 2004 at the University of Utah).

"Whether you are gay or straight, native or a settler, Mormon or Muslim . . . nuclear waste knows no boundaries. There are no other planets that we're on. This is it," La Duke said, and then joked, "If you want to look for weapons of mass destruction, look in Utah."

The crowd listened politely to the speeches by La Duke and Goshute activists, but when the Indigo Girls took the stage, they rose for a standing ovation.

The concert was a mix of old and new. Amy Ray and Emily Saliers started with "Fill It Up Again" from their latest album, "All That We Let In" and included a few more from that album, mixing them with favorites. They moved from personal to political - sometimes both at once - demonstrating their knack for writing songs everybody feels apply to them.

Their signature intelligent lyrics, harmonies and sense of rhythm haven't dimmed over the past two decades, and it's obvious that as singers and songwriters, Ray and Saliers were meant for each other. Their voices are as warm and distinctive as ever, blending in a matchless combination that is a joy to hear.

The two seemed genuinely affected by their fans' many ovations and screams of "I love you!" (One man even asked, "Will you marry me?")

Aware that the audience would know at least some of their songs by heart, they encouraged sing-alongs of their most popular tunes, including "Closer to Fine" and "Power of Two," sometimes stepping back from the microphones for entire verses.

There was nothing showy or ground-breaking in the simple set - but with the Indigo Girls, predictable is a good thing.